A SCHOOLGIRL who was diagnosed with arthritis aged just two has beaten the odds to dance and swim alongside her classmates.

Lois Foreman, from Eastwood, was born healthily in June 2009. However, just days after she turned two she started limping.

Doctors initially diagnosed her with a sprained knee. When it failed to improve, mum Michelle Foreman filmed her and took the evidence back to the doctors.

She was sent for blood tests which revealed she had arthritis.

Mrs Foreman, said: “As you could imagine we were confused as isn’t arthritis only for old people?

“My mum said we will get a second opinion, but by the time we moved to the rheumatology team at Southend Hospital we knew that Lois did indeed have arthritis.

“Within weeks the disease spread to my daughters ankles, wrists, knees and fingers.”

She was diagnosed with poliarticular juvenile arthritis and her condition spiralled.

Mrs Foreman added: “Lois couldn’t walk and she could barely move.

“We thought we were going to lose her.

“The rheumatology team at Southend were great, but the blood tests and the medicine decisions all took their toll on her little body.”

Gradually, her condition improved and seven-year-old Lois is now able to lead a normal life.

Mrs Foreman said: “She can now run, skip and play - obvious traits that we all take for granted.

“Lois, who is turning eight this year, now dances, swims, is a natural actress and singer and lives life to the full and although we had a blip before Christmas where she lost the ability to walk again as her drugs failed we picked ourselves up and Lois shows me what an amazing child she is.

“These children are called Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis Warriors, and their determination to carry on and not give up gives me hope that she will one day be free of this disease.”

To celebrate her improvement and raise awareness of the condition, Lois and her family are organising a special event at her school, Edwards Hall Primary, in Macmurdo Road, Eastwood.

It will coincide with Wear Purple for Juvenile Arthritis Day on Friday, June 9.

Money will be raised for the National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society through selling bands to students.

Children are also allowed to come in dressed in purple.